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In a very bizarre twist, Imagenetix, Inc. has announced that they will enter into a partnership with MonaVie. That’s right, Imagentix, is the SAME nutritional company that only a few weeks ago sued MonaVie for over $2 BILLION dollars. Apparently, the two companies have worked out their differences.

The original suit was brought by Imagenetix barely a month ago for patent infringement. Imagentix claimed that MonaVie, a rival neutraceutical company was making claims that their products contained the Celadrin formula patented by Imagenetix. Celadrin is a cellular lubricant that aids in joint health. Celadrin has been shown to be extremely effective aiding in joint health with results of over 15 University and Scientific studies being published in journals worldwide. Imagenetix developed the formula and holds the exclusive patent for its use. Apparently, MonaVie was either using the formula without permission, or they made false claims that they were using it.

The new agreement gives MonaVie the right to use the Celadrin in some products. Both companies released official statements about their excitement at entering into this new agreement.

‘We are extremely excited about the future of MonaVie as it relates to our relationship with
Imagenetix,’ said Dallin Larsen, of MonaVie. ‘Celadrin is a reputable and proven product that fits well with MonaVie’s mission to provide our consumers with products that promote healthy, active lifestyles.’

‘Imagenetix has the utmost confidence in MonaVie and its executive team, and are proud to be their associates,’ said Bill Spencer, of Imagenetix. ‘Considering what both companies bring to the table in terms of product quality and industry experience, this business partnership just makes sense. Based on this relationship we expect MonaVie to become one of our largest customers.’

In just a month these two companies went from a bitter $2.75 billion dollar lawsuit to a friendly partnership and business relationship. Makes you wonder what is going on behind the scenes. We will say this, Dallin Larsen has a lot of credibility now. He did say it was going to be settled. While it may not have been “a coupe of days”, he did stand by his word. Dallin gets a lot of respect here.

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It seems that the $2.5 billion dollar lawsuit brought against MonaVie by Imagenetix has been dropped.
According to sources form MonaVie, the two companies have reached and agreement on the trademark infringement issue and Imagenetix has agreed to dismiss the suit. MonaVie put out a press release late yesterday afternoon announcing the development.

The case brought to a California court by Imagenetix claimed that MonaVie made false claims that their products contained Celadrin, a nutritional formula patented and sold in retail stores solely by Imagenetix.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Imagenetix and to move forward focusing on our great products,” said Dallin Larsen, MonaVie founder and president. “As has always been the case, MonaVie is committed to conducting business with the utmost regard for integrity and moral principles.”

No word on what the actual agreement is and surprisingly, no word from Imagentix either. With this suit hopefully behind them, MonaVie can now focus its attention towards its expansion into South America during the summer of 2008.

Imagenetix apparently claimed to have a pretty powerful case against MonaVie and was adamant about making them pay for their alleged “scheme and conspiracy,” but it now it seems all is well. Details of the reason for the dismissal of the lawsuit are a bit vague and while it seems nothing official has been released by Imagenetix, we will take MonaVie’s word for it and continue to update you if there are any new developments.

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So with all juicy stories, they either have boring endings or ones that make ya really think if they are truly over. Such is the case with the Imagenetix claim against MonaVie which we revealed.

It seems now that Dallin Larsen, the Founder and President of MonaVie has sent out a letter to his “Diamonds and Above” assuring them that the issue will go away in “the next few days”.

Dear Diamonds and Above,

A few days ago in San Diego, California, a company by the name of Imagenetix filed a lawsuit against MonaVie and named many of our top distributors in the suit. This was in breach of an agreement we had reached with Imagenetix earlier in the week. We expect this issue to go away over the next few days.

To give you some perspective and to calm any concerns you may have, when MonaVie first launched in 2005, we included in our product a trademark ingredient called Celadrin®. Because we weren’€™t able to reach terms of use back in 2005, we stopped using this ingredient. However, Imagenetix has claimed that some of our distributors continued to refer to Celadrin® as an ingredient found in MonaVie Active and as such, Imagenetix believes that MonaVie has violated their intellectual property rights in the ridiculous amount of $2.5 billion!!!

As a show of good faith, we’€™ve reached an agreement to once again include Celadrin® in MonaVie Active. However, we are also very disappointed that Imagenetix chose to breach our agreement through the filing of their lawsuit. We’€™ve obviously been in contact with them and their attorney called us as early as yesterday apologizing for the filing of the lawsuit, stating that he was uninformed that MonaVie and Imagenetix had already reached an agreement. He was obviously embarrassed and we were less than amused.

Imagenetix has assured us that they will retract the filing and make a statement of such over the next few days and we fully expect them to keep their word. If for whatever reason, they remain in breach of our agreement, rest assured that MonaVie is well prepared as always, to protect the interests of all our distributors. Feel free to share this information with anyone in your respective groups who may have inquired as we’€™ve fielded approximately a dozen calls over the last few days at the company. However, I would caution you not to overly concern anyone by spreading discussion on this topic, as again, we fully expect it to go away over the next few days.

I guess this means we’€™re no longer under the radar! Keep up the good work!!! And let this serve as a reminder, MonaVie DOES NOT contain Viagra!

Dallin

I have to say, while we openly admit to enjoying the MonaVie product, this letter is a bit odd and it doesnt appear that Dallin got any help from a good crisis management firm to help him with it.

How does Dallin say that they stopped using Celadrin yet it’s right on his corp website as one of the Top Ten reasons that MonaVie is great! Either no one told Larsen what’s in his product or there is going to be a new job opening for a webmaster over there pretty soon. And I must say, having run a company in the past, been on boards of public companies, if MonaVie had indeed reached any agreement with Imagenetix, it would be a bit shocking that they would move forward with a very public announcement of a lawsuit against the company they allegedly just made an agreement with.

I’m not quite sure how Larsen expects this to “go away in the news few days” especially after this letter went out. I am equally confused as to Larsen really can convince people that he expects Imagenetix to “keep their word” about putting out a retraction article when according to Larsen himself, Imagenetix didn’t keep their word to begin with and that is why the lawsuit was announced so publicly.

Stay tuned, this one is far from over!

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MonaVie - the nutritional drink company - is being sued by Imagentix for 2.75 BILLION dollars, yup BILLION dollars, for alleged trademark infringement.

Imagentix, a California based health company (with no working website) is suing MonaVie for falsely claiming that their products contain Celadrin, an anti-inflammatory therapy taken orally and used as a cream. Imagentix owns the patent to Celadrin and claims that MonaVie is falsely claiming that their products contain the formula. Imagentix sells Celadrin over the counter at retail stores including Costco and Walgreen’s.

According to documents filed this month in U.S. District Court in Southern California, Imagentix is suing the company and some top distributors for trademark infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition.

The lawsuit cites several MonaVie press releases from 2005 released by MonaVie claiming that their product contained Celadrin. They also say MonaVie allowed a video to be released, produced by a top distributor, claiming that MonaVie contained “esterified fatty acids,” the central ingredient of the Celadrin.

You really dont have to look too far to find Celedrin mentioned by MonaVie. I little investigating found the name listed right on MonVie’s website as one of the Top Ten Reasons to join MonaVie (#3). Even a basic Google search of MonaVie and Celedrin produces over 16,500 results.

In papers filed by Imagenetix they are asking for an injunction against the company to prohibit distributors from making claims that their products contain Celadrin. Imagenetix is also requesting a jury trial as well as punitive damages of $500 million dollars. The company wants reimbursement from damages suffered to their business which they estimate to be $750 million, but they want that number tripled to $2.25 billion or as an alternative, $1 million per wrongful Celadrin claim on any MonaVie Marketing Material.

MonaVie President Dallin Larsen released a statement that said the lawsuit is the result of a misunderstanding between the two companies. “They’re supposed to be dismissing it tomorrow,” Apparently, nobody at Imagenetix got that message as representatives from the company including CEO William Spencer had no response when asked about the lawsuit being dismissed.

This is just more bad news for MonaVie who is also currently involved in a nasty dispute with Quixtar, a sister company of Amway. MonaVie has gotten in trouble in the past for making claims that their products are “cancer cures.” It seems as if in a rush to get ahead of the game amongst the “super fruit” drinks, MonaVie is taking some unethical shortcuts. We will keep you up to date as more details of the suit role in.

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